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Thursday, 21 May 2015

Manchester United eyes German legend Bastian Schweinsteiger

Manchester United are exploring the possibility of a summer move for German legend Bastian Schweinsteiger.

United
manager Louis van Gaal believes the Bayern Munich midfielder would
bring experience and European know-how to the centre of his team’s
midfield.

It is understood that talks have
already taken place last month between United and go-betweens and that
the Germany international would be open to a move.

Schweinsteiger
and Van Gaal worked together at Munich when the Dutch coach was in
charge of the Bundesliga club and developed a close relationship.

The
current United manager knows that the player is the wrong side of the
club’s targeted age range for new players but has spoken to chief
executive Ed Woodward and both agree that Schweinsteiger is good enough
to make an exception.

With a year left on his current deal at
Bayern, Schweinsteiger could be available for less than £10million. He
would demand high wages and there would be little sell-on value.
However, Van Gaal believes he would bring enough to his squad to make
the investment worthwhile.

United are desperately short of
firepower in the middle of the field and are fundamentally in need of a
player to bring them authority and presence. Van Gaal is a fan of
Michael Carrick but the England midfielder is beginning to suffer with
injuries.

It remains to be seen if United will prioritise
Schweinsteiger or pursue other, younger targets first. They know that
Bayern will prove tricky to deal with as they do not like to sell to
traditional European rivals.